Canon is listening to customers, they're just not listening to the vocal minority

The thing is, the people on the forum are not, generally speaking, Canon's major target audience.

I agree that this forum is not a representation of Canon's whole customer base - well, maybe the enthusiast "L only" side.

But what silent majority is supposed to be Canon's target audience that wants to pay more to get less? Even newbies to dlsr won't say "what? built-in gps? I'll take two!" when the Nikon body next to it has more mp and a lower price tag.

But what silent majority is supposed to be Canon's target audience that wants to pay more to get less? Even newbies to dlsr won't say "what? built-in gps? I'll take two!" when the Nikon body next to it has more mp and a lower price tag.

For many years, it has been argued that people who buy Macs, and more recently, iPhones, are paying more to get less. So maybe it's the same silent majority that has made Apple the largest company in the world...

But what silent majority is supposed to be Canon's target audience that wants to pay more to get less? Even newbies to dlsr won't say "what? built-in gps? I'll take two!" when the Nikon body next to it has more mp and a lower price tag.

For many years, it has been argued that people who buy Macs, and more recently, iPhones, are paying more to get less. So maybe it's the same silent majority that has made Apple the largest company in the world...

Apple managed to cultivate a "cool" factor that Canon will never have.

Logged

Don't take my advice. Don't even take my advice not to take my advice.

But what silent majority is supposed to be Canon's target audience that wants to pay more to get less? Even newbies to dlsr won't say "what? built-in gps? I'll take two!" when the Nikon body next to it has more mp and a lower price tag.

For many years, it has been argued that people who buy Macs, and more recently, iPhones, are paying more to get less. So maybe it's the same silent majority that has made Apple the largest company in the world...

Apple managed to cultivate a "cool" factor that Canon will never have.

Mac's do not have the majority market share because of their price tag.

For many years, it has been argued that people who buy Macs, and more recently, iPhones, are paying more to get less. So maybe it's the same silent majority that has made Apple the largest company in the world...

"Two mouse buttons confuse me" Mac-users aside, iPhones offer not less, but more for more money: fast hardware, more apps, a fine-tuned integrated and *working* ecosystem, better usability, better os upgrades (unlike Android). And unlike Canon Apple makes their customers go ecstatic with each and every product, while Canon just manages to make most people I know shake their heads in disbelief.

But the main difference is: Apple is way more innovative while Canon is the most conservative company I can imagine, the current Canon execs would get fired @Apple in no time. The only strategy I can see from Canon atm is to make people believe "it's expensive, it has to be stellar".

The only strategy I can see from Canon atm is to make people believe "it's expensive, it has to be stellar".

Maybe. I'm going to reserve judgement. The fact that Canon brought out the 40mm f/2.8 'pancake' lens at $199, then slapped a rebate on it to knock 25% off the already low price, suggests they know how to make and sell a cheap lens that delivers good IQ, if they want to aim for that market segment.

I'm sure Canon Marketing has done their homework. Remember that the main determinants of price are cost the market will bear and expected sales volume. Whoever the 24-70/4L IS is targeted toward (and honestly, I'm not really sure who that is ), it's possible Canon does not expect to move a huge volume of them (unlike, say, the 24-105/4L IS or 17-40/4L), and has priced it higher to compensate. Revenue generated is a more important metric than units sold.

it's possible Canon does not expect to move a huge volume of them (unlike, say, the 24-105/4L IS or 17-40/4L), and has priced it higher to compensate.

Possible, it's a pity we don't know the manufacturing cost curve in comparison to units produced. It is obvious lenses like a 600L will be expensive because of low volume, but I'd expect the costs for (kit?) lenses like the 24-70/4 to drop drastically even if they don't reach the #1 sales position.

And Canon is known to try to get away with as much as they can grab I'm afraid to say looking at the 5d3 price - I don't believe the manufacturing cost of the 1dx af system and a modified (silent) shutter explains the initial $3500 price tag.

...I can tell you it's changing. 50 people in my office and about 10 DSLR camera users. 2 were Nikon users and 8 were Canon users in the past few years. This year one switched to Nikon and another one is going to get D600 soon. I know losing two users for Canon is not a big thing.

Two people in my office just bought 5DIII's. Since only one person in your office has actually switched, Canon is up by a net of one user and a few more yen as well. These small sample sizes are so informative….

Are the two people are original Canon users? If so, no surprise here. Three of seven current Canon DSLR users has 5D3 in my office. That's just routing upgrade for our gears. I believe many D700 users have also upgraded to D800 in the past months. My point is I see people switching to Nikon from Canon. However, I don't see anyone switch to Canon from Nikon recently.I have to agree with you that I can only see small sample size here. However, that's what I have seen in the past few months.

...I can tell you it's changing. 50 people in my office and about 10 DSLR camera users. 2 were Nikon users and 8 were Canon users in the past few years. This year one switched to Nikon and another one is going to get D600 soon. I know losing two users for Canon is not a big thing.

Two people in my office just bought 5DIII's. Since only one person in your office has actually switched, Canon is up by a net of one user and a few more yen as well. These small sample sizes are so informative….

Are the two people are original Canon users? If so, no surprise here. Three of seven current Canon DSLR users has 5D3 in my office. That's just routing upgrade for our gears. I believe many D700 users have also upgraded to D800 in the past months. My point is I see people switching to Nikon from Canon. However, I don't see anyone switch to Canon from Nikon recently.I have to agree with you that I can only see small sample size here. However, that's what I have seen in the past few months.

Not tht it matters in the slightest, but one was a Nikon dSLR shooter, the other had an Olympus dSLR.

"Two mouse buttons confuse me" Mac-users aside, iPhones offer not less, but more for more money: fast hardware, more apps, a fine-tuned integrated and *working* ecosystem, better usability, better os upgrades (unlike Android). And unlike Canon Apple makes their customers go ecstatic with each and every product, while Canon just manages to make most people I know shake their heads in disbelief.

But the main difference is: Apple is way more innovative while Canon is the most conservative company I can imagine, the current Canon execs would get fired @Apple in no time. The only strategy I can see from Canon atm is to make people believe "it's expensive, it has to be stellar".

Well said. Many people around me use iPhone because of the innovation of Apple. If Canon wants to have higher price tags like Apple, Canon needs to show us its innovation.

That's because Canon was doing right and has bigger brand name. However, I can tell you it's changing. 50 people in my office and about 10 DSLR camera users. 2 were Nikon users and 8 were Canon users in the past few years. This year one switched to Nikon and another one is going to get D600 soon. I know losing two users for Canon is not a big thing. However, for me that's 25% market share losing for Canon and 100% market share gaining for Nikon.

Of the dozens of pro photogs I know in my field that shoot Canon, despite Nikon's recent progress, they're still shooting Canon. Of these dozens of pro photogs, 1/2 of them switched from Nikon to Canon in the early '00s, and guess what, they're still shooting Canon.

Canon is by no means invincible, but regardless of how much their specs of their current bodies might upset the online gearhead crowd, Canon still knows how to sell cameras. Nevertheless, I welcome the competition and hope that Nikon continues to keep Canon on its toes.